Gui's maman arrived on Friday for her first visit to Texas. She'll be here for a couple of weeks, but we've been making the most of her time here already. This past weekend, we drove out to Lockhart for some good Texas barbecue and later that night we had a blast playing some intense games of bingo at the old VFW. We spent all day Sunday brunching with friends chez nous and enjoying some sun poolside before chowing down on a plate full of tacos.

We've been trying to cram in everything we love while she's here and this week we're planning a trip to Barton Springs, some divine dining at Uchi and hopefully a trip out to Fredericksburg and Gruene (pronounced "green"), where she can enjoy some small-town fun. Gui and I are both working most of the week, so she's been exploring a bit on her own, too. During a few of her walks, she's noted that everyone here has a dog, people go running at any time of the day despite the record temps, and folks say "hello" when they pass you on the sidewalk. So far, I'd venture to say that I think she rather likes Texas.

Philadelphia was lovely. We spent an entire day walking around town, indulging in sidewalk cafes, street art and fancy supermarkets. We ended our day trip with a dinner at Tria – a local wine bar that we had stumbled across on our way to the hotel. The food was stunning, the service was correct and the beer and wine menus took us back to visits in Belgium. A clever concept, executed to perfection.

The bulk of our weekend, though, was spent taking in the island life of one of Long Island’s most north-eastern land masses, Shelter Island. We were thoroughly spoiled by Gui’s aunt and uncle who let us squat on their beachside vacation where we ate inappropriate amounts of lobster, tasted amazing local wines, basked in the sun on the Atlantic and hung out with the quirky locals. I managed to get in a Long Island iced tea during a lunch break at the local biker bar, and it was honestly too strong for this Texas girl to finish. Long Islanders are no joke.

Before hopping the train back to Philly to catch our afternoon flight back home, we spent a night in NYC, walking around Tribeca and SoHo on a mild, late-summer evening. Spending time in the city made me nostalgic for big-city life; for urbanity; for Paris. I never knew I could love living in a big city before I lived in Paris, and now I almost feel like there's no other place that feels more like home.

Philadelphia

Tonton et tata

A New York view

I really didn't mean to be gone for so long. Everything just kind of happened all at once and I found myself struggling to keep up. I'm not big on bullet-points but I think it's the best way to tell you about what I've been up to since my last entry on July 5th:

• Working. That's right, folks! I am an official, contributing, tax-paying member of this world once again. I've got health insurance and everything (although, we'll be sticking with Gui's health plan since it's much cheaper and way better)! My job? It's at a company I worked for before I left Austin back in 2007. Back then, I was working in the legal department dealing with contracts and stuff, now I'm assisting the VP, working with buyers and running reports. Admittedly, it's not my dream job, but it pays the bills and I'm having fun so far. Not to mention getting free goodies for my hair. Have you ever used a hair dryer with a Ferrari engine?
  
  

• Getting ready to go back to school. I've decided to finally give it a go and take a few classes to get my CPA. Classes start next week, and I have to admit that I'm kind of terrified. Accounting? Haven't done that in ages. But, I'm kind of stoked that I'm finally doing something I've been saying for so long now I wanted to do. I just hope I don't find myself feeling like I'm way in over my head - especially since I'm plunging in with 3 classes in the first semester. Gulp.

• Moving into our own place. I feel like I've been moving for a century now. Tuesday will be a month since we "officially" moved into our own place, but we're still barely settling in. We have about 30% of the furniture we need - still working on getting a bed, some shelves and more seating options. The place is a brand new construction, and we had it a little rough at the beginning of the month with developers falling through on warranty issues for repairs, so now, we're aiming for September 1st for when we'll finally be "settled" in. Honestly, we really, really love our new place. It's a small (13 unit) complex in an unbeatable downtown location, with lots of modern charm and brand new everything. I just can't wait to have time to sit back and enjoy the space.

• Waiting on people. With moving, comes lots of waiting on people to come by and hook things up, deliver stuff and repair things. We've been doing lots of that lately. Our new place has no closets, so we had someone come in and install a shelving system, then there was the mess with the internet guy who finally came by 3 weeks after ordering the installation, and the water guy to find out why our water isn't working and the couch delivery guy and the bed delivery guys, etc. The hardest part about waiting was not having internet to pass the time. My iPhone was getting a lot of love until the cable guy finally came to install the internet.
  

• Spending time with family. I got to see a lot of my mom over the summer (perks of being a school teacher), and it was so nice to have her here during such a hectic month. She helped me out a ton during my move, and we caught up on life over lunch at good ol' Luby's. My nephews also spent some of their summer vacation in Austin and Guillaume and I were lucky enough to spend a lot of time with them while they were here. It was so much fun kicking back like a kid, staying up late eating junk food and splashing around in the pool all day. It had been about 7 months since I last saw them, and I couldn't believe how much they'd changed! Still cute as ever, though.

So, I'm back now! I feel like I've been away from blogging so long that I don't know where to begin! But, I have lots to say and share (going to Philly in a few weeks and the belle-mêre is visiting soon), so do stay tuned.

Gui and I just got back to Austin from a whirlwind weekend in California (I'm sifting through 500+ pictures, so much more on that later), but before we left, we participated in the annual Urban Assault Ride through Austin. It's a bike ride with pit-stops all around the city and fun obstacle courses throughout. The whole thing is sponsored by New Belgium Brewing and started 9 years ago in the Live Music Capital. I remember missing out on all the fun last year when we were still 5,000 miles away in lovely Paris, but this year our friend Melynda gifted us the registration to the event for our birthdays and we've been counting down since!

A couple of weeks leading up to the ride, Gui and I started taking a cycle strengthening class in preparation. Even though it took me 4 classes to be on pace with everyone else, it was hands-down the smartest thing we did to prepare for the course. Even as early as 8 a.m., riding for 20-something miles during the summer in Austin is no easy task (well, at least not for a beginning cycler like me).

We managed to keep a good pace, though and with the encouragement of our friends Melynda and Carolina who were a team all their own, we finished the ride 152nd overall out of 540+ teams, and 76th out of nearly 300 coed teams. I've never done a ride like that before, but it was wonderfully organized and the obstacles at each stop were so much fun that I hope we can make it a yearly event. The best part for me was remembering routes that I'd long forgotten and discovering how much more bike-friendly Austin has become since I've been living on the other side of the world. The worst part: remembering how hot it gets in Austin in the summer.